April 24, 1862 (Wednesday): The South's Largest City About to Fall

Fort Saint Phillip, 1989, NPS

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
Steamer Mississippi, April 24, 1862.

Flag-Officer FARRAGUT,
Commanding Western Gulf Squadron:
    SIR: Allow me to congratulate you and your command upon the bold, daring, brilliant, and successful passage of the forts by your fleet this morning. A more gallant exploit it has never fallen to the lot of man to witness.
    Captain Porter, with whom I have had a conference, agrees that it was best we should at once proceed to carry out the plan agreed upon by yourself and me, to with, that I should immediately land troops to co-operate with you at the quarantine station and so hem in the forts.
    When I left the mortar fleet, at about 8 o'clock this morning, the rebel flag was still flying upon the forts; the ram had floated down on fire and was consumed; another rebel steamer was burning. A signal had been made to cease firing by Captain Porter; the Portsmouth had returned to her anchorage unhurt; the Winona had been badly crippled, a shot though her boilers and several in her hull, making water fast; the Itasca had been badly used, but had lost no mean, and was in an effective condition-all other men unhurt save trifling casualties; the Harriet lane had but one killed and wounded, besides, in all, so far as I could learn.
    Captain Porter will forward you ammunition and supplies through the quarantine station should you desire. I will be able to aid you from the same point immediately. Please send directions as to your wishes by the bearer or otherwise.
    I send this by Captain Conant, of the Thirty-first Massachusetts Regiment, who goes to communicate with you. He is the gentleman of whom I spoke to you as having made a reconnaissance in the rear of Lieutenant Philips night before last. He knows the contents of this dispatch, for fear of accident, and may be most implicitly relied upon and trusted. I hope he may be able to report to me off Point Salle, when I will immediately communicate with Captain Porter. If in danger, Captain Conant has been ordered to destroy this and remember its contents, and will do the same with any dispatches you may give him.
    If you design proceeding up the river, will you leave, say, two gun boats at the quarantine station to protect our landing?
    Respectfully, yours,



    BEN J. F. BUTLER,
    Major-General, Commanding.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 6, Part 1, Page 714.

New Orleans was the largest southern city and a jewel to be won.  Its taking was simple.  Once Farragut had passed Forts Jackson and Saint Phillip the city was untenable and Confederate general Mansfield Lovell withdrew quickly.  The Union had the city, but it remained in a state of agitation after its capture.  Butler would take harsh measures to subdue the population, earning him the nickname "The Beast".  Some have argued, and not without some merit, that the war was lost to the Confederacy once New Orleans fell.  Whether this is true or not, the running of Farragut's fleet by the forts was yet another great achievement for a U. S. Navy whose role in winning the war is vastly underrated.  Today Fort Saint Phillip is in bad condition.  Even before Hurricane Katrina it was overgrown and in disrepair.  After it has been subject to flooding and is now reportedly inhabited by snakes and stray cattle.  The only redeeming feature of its current condition is that it is twenty miles from the nearest road, so unlikely to be further damaged by visitors.